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Soil samples 2018 Where in Iowa?

Looks like ISU is not doing soil samples anymore. Went down to pick some bags up recently.
Where are you sending your samples into now?

Another question? I've been using Paul Knox formula Brassicas / Cereal grain mix for the last 6 years.
Last year I decided to try Frigid Forage - Big & Beasty / Autumn Quick plot. Just to see if I was missing something. (Since I was buying my seed through Welter seed & Honey CO) I did see a little more Late season activity with this mix. So decided to try it again hoping we don't have a drought like I saw in my area last year very little rain after planting.
When you plant the Big & Beasty what are you using for the code on the soil samples? 150 Bushel corn & do you actually send in a soil test for your Autumn Quick plot. Paul said to skip the soil sample & use 100
lbs of Urea
 
Tons of places. Your local co-op is a good starting point. There are tons of mail in services as well. Midwest labs out of Omaha probably has the most complete information that I've personally seen, but is probably overkill for a foodplots.
 
Sorry on delay, just getting back to reality. ABOVE! Agree!
Local Coop, Midwest & Yep - Frigid Forage does a nice job. All are easy & doable and won't break the bank. Frigid Forage, could send them a message & will get good support from there. The others - as easy as stopping by & picking up some bags usually.

OK..... Let's chat "REALITY" for some guys who, no matter what, are not gonna do a soil test.....
1) Corn would be the extreme example for N needs. Let's say you came out of something that did not leave a lot of N (will change based on what you are rotating out of). To simplify it.... Put down 1 unit of N per bushel of corn you want. I'd honestly shoot for 150 bushels at minimum regardless. That's corn. At 46% N of Urea, 150 units puts you over 300 lbs of Urea to get to 150 lbs/units actual, 200 be nicer & lil more flexibility for loss from leeching, etc etc or production potential. For BRASSICAS.... NITROGEN, I'd want to have about 50 units MINIMUM IMO.
2) Corn coming out of a year long mowing of say, an annual & perennial clover blend, it might fix 60-150 lbs of N. An "EYE" for knowing what's there and how well it did will help guide you on how much you need to add. Or same with brassicas.... If you came out of a fantastic legume crop..... Probably need nothing.
3) P&K & lime on a "to heck with it, know it's good, I'm putting it down! screw the test it's going on!" mentality..... If you know or suspect the soil is acidic as well..... 200-300 lbs pelletized lime is fair balance & GUESSTIMATE that will very likely HELP you and not hurt you in ALMOST any scenario. Each year. FOR P&K FOR ANY CROP....... It ain't going anywhere, it's $ in the bank & 8 out of 10 times, it's deficient.... So.... This is one I'm ok with "putting extra down" - you are building reserves & unlike most of the N & the Pelletized lime, it WILL BE THERE the following year. It's also smart to put down all the time as it takes a winter for it to break down anyways.... ON A WHIM......... P&K.... ACTUAL UNITS PER ACRE: 50-50 would be my MINIMUM. 80-80 being more desireable & anything around there and UP.... You're putting $ in the bank. One could ask the coop in the area if they usually see more P or K deficiencies around there too. One could find out, in rare cases, P is unusually high around there and K is massively deficient - WHATEVER. One could also find pockets of Alkaline soils as well.

BUT - bottom line: brassicas: 50 N, corn: 150-200 N. P&K going blindly- I'd personally do 80-80 a year if I was going to continue to use it. Blindly on PH.... 200-300 lbs pelletized lime. RIGHT ANSWER: soil test. BUT - I get it. REALITY is, guys wanna just GO. & to be real honest, is putting down extra Fertilizer of N-P-K usually gonna do any bit of harm other than a little more expense? NO. Is it going to damage anything in 99% of scenarios? NO. Will it semi-insure you have good to great plants: Yes. That's the BASIC answer + some reality & subjective matter rolled up for you!
 
Here is an example of a $8 test from a local co-op.

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...and here is an example of a $23 test from Midwest. Way more info, but probably overkill for foodplots. Lots of useful info for production agriculture.

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Thanks for the reply's. What are your thoughts on making up the Lime deficiency with using Plot start? Little pricy but cheaper as far as equipment needed to apply in my case I think. My plots are long and narrow, and using a buggy spreader would put most of it in the timber.

Would love to find a drop spreader that would spread Ag Lime.
 
Thanks for the reply's. What are your thoughts on making up the Lime deficiency with using Plot start? Little pricy but cheaper as far as equipment needed to apply in my case I think. My plots are long and narrow, and using a buggy spreader would put most of it in the timber.

Would love to find a drop spreader that would spread Ag Lime.

I have no experience on the liquid PH adjustment products. If you have a tractor, a 3 point spreader is a great fairly cheap investment for us foodplot guys. You can spread pelletized lime at a very controlled rate based on RPM's
 
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